Norwegian Cruise Line
Norwegian Wind Cruise Review
Alaska

Michael Yak
ge: 50
Occupation: business owner
Number of Cruises: 1
Sailing Date: April 30th, 2006

This was the first cruise we have ever been on. We came on board with little expectation other than to have some quiet time together after 20+ years with our children.

1. The Cruise started with a stench of sewer from the trucks empting the ship’s holding tanks right below the gangway at Vancouver’s beautiful Canada Place terminal. It permeated the vessel. I told my wife that once we were at sea that it would dissipate. I was wrong. This odor was present every day and to the day we docked back at Vancouver 7 days later. The odor was mostly prevalent in the stair wells right before and after reception desk on 7 deck, also outside on promenade deck, fwd starboard. The other problem was the smell in our corridor outside our room, best described as an “engine room” smell. The first two days of the voyage I spent in our room with a headache and nausea, seasick I thought. I took medication and felt better. My wife (obviously a little slower to react) felt bad for the next two days. At least we could spend time together…

We mentioned it to the reception staff and they said they would look into it. The corridor odor did not improve so I mentioned the smell everyday to reception and they said they were aware of it from other guests and that it was being taking care of. On the last night (Saturday) of the cruise we again said that everyday when I go to or from my room I seem to get a little nausea-headache. She said she would again send someone to check it out. This night a “refrigeration/air conditioning” man knocked on our door and said that he was going stop the recirculation and push fresh air in. When I asked him what the problem was and why nothing had been done earlier, he stated that it was the first he had heard about it. I felt real special being ignored.

2. The food was exceptional we enjoyed the presentation and the chocoholic buffet. The service was generally great. Just a couple of interesting points to mention.

i) Why are all the restaurants serving the same menu (except for the sports bar buffet)? If you did not like Italian (or whatever) the only other choice was the buffet. By the time you knew the night’s menu the Bistro was booked. Why not post the menus on TV?

ii) Why were there no tomatoes? We have never heard of hamburgers, Mexican tacos, salads, etc. with no tomatoes, what gives? (We would hate to think it was because of price as one guest mentioned).

iii) After 11pm all there was the worst pizza I have ever eaten, really. And we had to wait three times because there was none! Not to mention it was an Alaskan trip and you had to go outside in the blowing wind to have the guy say it will be fifteen minutes!! How smart is that, why not in the sports bar?

iv) We am sure you do not like to have everyone order room service, but when you are stuck in your room like we were it would be nice to have some thing other than a roast beef sandwich. I think that would be easy.

3. Part of the reason we went on the trip is I was recovering from a work injury to my knee. I was looking forward to going into the whirlpool which was green till the last day of the cruise (Saturday).

4. We were wondering why we missed the Glacier which we now understand happens all the time. We could not understand why we would go up to the Glacier late into the day (after 6pm up the channel) when it would have been just as easy to do it on the Friday as listed on our itinerary. At least we would have all day to experience the beauty of the Tracy Arm. The whale watching company has a plane that scouts the area out first. They don’t have disappointed customers. (We hope it was not as one passenger said because of the money it saved). If we could not go to the Glacier and there was plenty of time why not have another stop/sight as a Plan B.

5. This was the last straw so to speak. We booked the White Pass Railway “Special” and Klondike Gold Dredge online before the Cruise. As cut & pasted from this web site below on your site. http://164.109.173.140/shorex/ak/2006/order_forms/ak_star_0507.pdf

SGY-0021 White Pass Railway “SPECIAL” & Klondike Gold Dredge 5 3/4 10:30 AM $145.00 $75.00

The info below was cut & pasted from
http://164.109.173.140/shorex/ak/2006/skagway.htm#002


KLONDIKE DREDGE & GOLD PANNING
Approximate Duration: 2 hours
Level 1 / Family Recommended / Physically Limited
Experience the life of a gold prospector on this fun-filled experience. Visit an authentic 350-ton Gold Dredge and join the Klondike Family for fun and a chance to find your “fortune.” While at the dredge, you will meet the entire cast of characters who will introduce you to the life of an old sourdough. You will see a 10-minute movie on the history of Gold Dredges, tour the actual dredge that discovered over $8 million in gold and learn to pan for real placer gold. Once you have learned the “art” of gold panning, you will practice your technique in heated water. Upon finding your “fortune” you can head into Gertie’s Gold Shack to have all of your gold weighed, with an opportunity to get it transferred into a souvenir bezel

The actual time of the tour was 15min in gold dredge, 15 min panning for gold, both fun. The other 1 hour and 30 minutes were spent in the gift shop, no movie, no fun. The picture above was not part of the Tour, whatever is was.
WHITE PASS RAILWAY & KLONDIKE GOLD DREDGE

Approximate Duration: 5 3/4 hours
Level 1 / Family Recommended / Meal
Ride Skagway’s famous railway, up to the White Pass Summit, a 40-mile roundtrip fully narrated tour on the White Pass Train that includes a Gold Fever Escort. Your escort will host and entertain you with their personal stories of gold prospecting. Then it’s off to meet the Klondike Family for fun at the Klondike Gold Dredge as detailed in the “Klondike Dredge & Gold Panning” tour description.
Note: Lunch box provided on the train.

**The afternoon departure of this tour is referred to as WHITE PASS RAILWAY “SPECIAL” & KLONDIKE GOLD DREDGE. Recreate the gold rush era by train, and enjoy a selection of smoked salmon, fresh fruit and vegetables, sausages and cheeses, while sipping champagne or sparkling cider. At the summit, raise your glass for a Yukon toast!**

If you read the last part of the brochure it mentions a selection of smoked salmon and champagne at the top. This did not happen. Right on our excursion form it says “special” as above. We read about it and looked forward to it (as did the other passengers on train) but when we asked the person on the train said no that we are mistaken. So we thought we must be wrong. As you can see from the info we have provided that indeed we were right. This “special” was left out of our excursion and we would like know what happened?

Finally because this was our first cruise it is hard for us to compare if this was the normal way of things that happen. We can tell you that we saved for this cruise and that we will never stepping on the Norwegian “WIND” ever again. The vessel should be condemned for health reasons. It can not be healthy to breath in “feces” smell for any length of time. We could not even conceive what was in the air that was bad enough to give us headaches and nausea, the toxic levels must have been off the chart.

We thank the staff and the fine food for at least making the cruise “not a total loss.”

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